“If we are able, through the channels the Lord has given us—just as He once gave us paper and the printing press, so now He has given us digital tools—to spread our truth, then we need nothing more,” stated Sanja Anđelković-Lubardić, editor and journalist, at the discussion panel The Church in the Electronic Public Sphere, held in the parish hall of the Temple of Saint Sava on 14 September 2025, in honour of the first anniversary of the Missionary Portal Kinonia of the Missionary Department of the Archdiocese of Belgrade–Karlovci.
The commemoration of this small jubilee was opened with a short film by Television Hram about the work of the portal, authored by Branislav Ilić, editor of Kinonia. The troparia of the Beginning of the Indiction, Pentecost, and Saint Basil of Ostrog were chanted by Nikolaј Sandić, a student of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, and the gathering concluded with the awarding of certificates of gratitude to collaborators and friends of the editorial board.
The portal Svetosavlje, conceived at the end of the 1990s by a group of priests from the diaspora (America, Australia), as a unique library of patristic texts and a space for communication between the faithful and priests, was the forerunner of missionary engagement of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the sphere of electronic media. The ubiquity of the internet, which emerged in the first decade of the 21st century, together with the preservation of the ascetical way of life and the liturgical message, led to the appearance of an increasing number of thematically related portals—a development crowned today by Kinonia.
- This is a dedicated undertaking of catechist Branislav Ilić, a versatile content creator with a recognizable literary and editorial imprint, who has been actively engaged in the missionary sphere for a whole decade. Through his texts and all that the portal offers, Kinonia constantly reminds us that man is a liturgical being, embodying the deepest communion between man and God, noted Presb. Dr. Oliver Subotić in his address at the panel, following a brief retrospective of this mode of the Church’s activity.
In only one year, Kinonia has published two thousand high-quality texts, which is extremely laudable, particularly concerning its success in attracting young people to its content and its content creation.
- “Mission can be undertaken only by those who are deeply faithful, who are honest, who love to engage in missionary work, and who show initiative. If you have a person who, on his own initiative, opens new mission avenues and is deeply engaged… then having such collaborators is a blessing for every priest,” remarked Father Oliver Subotić, commending a Christ-labourer brother Branislav Ilić, as well as his fellow collaborator Marko Bakić, who structurally devised Kinonia and donated the project to the Missionary Department of the Archdiocese of Belgrade–Karlovci.
Sharing a memory from the early 2000s, when as a journalist at Studio B she had the opportunity to speak with the late Serbian Patriarch Pavle of blessed memory, editor and journalist Sanja Anđelković-Lubardić reflected on the Church’s gradual entry into the mainstream media. She emphasized that today there exists an extraordinary network of social media profiles with ecclesial content and that the church media activists today are „ beyond compare”.
- “In order to secure a few minutes in some mainstream media outlet, with completely unpredictable audience receptivity, we would have to expend considerable resources. Yet we can produce a short video, titled, for example ‘What is the Feast of the Dormition?’ with only a short excerpt from the Prologue of Ohrid, and it will be viewed by 360,000 people. Not 360,000 views, but 360,000 viewers! There is not a single television station with decent quality content capable of achieving such results,” observed Sanja Anđelković-Lubardić in her analysis of the impact of church media, available to today’s viewers.
Television Hram, under Sanja’s editorial leadership, is present daily in 20,000 households through cable channels, while on the social network Instagram it has over 200,000 views and an equal number of subscribers on the YouTube platform. This, emphasized Anđelković-Lubardić, was unimaginable at the inception of this media outlet, which will continue to strive for a national broadcasting frequency, for the Church has every right to it.
- “The Church is the foundational institution of this nation and absolutely has the right to a frequency which will enable its presence in every home in this country. I believe that it is our right, since we have almost 90 percent Orthodox Christian believers, while the channels, which are our national resource, are still in private hands. This is our first goal, and it will take much time to achieve, but we are moving towards it. In the meantime, our television, our radio, and all of us together are working on the relevant content in the electronic sphere,” announced the editor of the first television station of the Serbian Orthodox Church, expressing confidence that things will only continue to improve, given the ongoing professionalization of Church media. “My editorial interest, and the interest of all of us, does not lie in having a dialogue, because I am aware that we live in a post-communist society. What interests me is the truth. If we can, through these channels, which the Lord has given us—just as He once gave us paper and the printing press, so now He has given us digital tools— spread our truth, then we need nothing more,” concluded Sanja Anđelković-Lubardić in her professional presentation.
From the Diocese of Valjevo—which, in the words of the moderator, Presb. Dr. Aleksandar Milojkov, harbours two of the greatest Serbian saints, Saint Bishop Nikolaj and the venerable Father Justin—came Deacon Aleksandar Panić, a permanent collaborator of the portal, with the desire to offer at the Kinonia panel a reflection on its ethos, which is precisely that of Saint Nikolaj and Saint Justin.
Owing to the blessing of His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, the Most Reverend and Right Reverend Metropolitans and Bishops, the esteemed professors of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology and other academic institutions, as well as all those who have in any way contributed to the portal, Deacon Aleksandar Panić observed that the Kinonia community grows day by day, offering quality texts, video recordings, and other spiritually edifying content, thereby realizing the need to sanctify the digital space.
- “Saint Bishop Nikolaj said that homiletics is an art, but that not every artist is a great one. Father Justin said that Bishop Nikolaj was the greatest Serb after Saint Sava, the one who blazed the path which our people have continued to tread for over eight centuries. Yet both of them paid attention not only to great theological themes but also to lesser issues, such as Bishop Nikolaj’s missionary letters or Father Justin’s Lives of the Saints. Both employed sharp language, yet both poured forth rivers of grace and love. They are true examples of freedom coupled with responsibility. Every uttered word bears great responsibility. Personal example does so as well. Whatever the primary topic of their texts may have been, they were above all Christ-like, modelled after the one and only image that should serve as our paradigm,“ formed part of the presentation of Father Aleksandar Panić, grounded in the ethos of these two spiritual giants, by which Kinonia is distinguished—as one of the sources of living water in our own time.
The concluding remarks of the discussion panel were given by catechist Branislav Ilić, whose diligence has enabled this missionary endeavor to live and grow, gathering authors from across all dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church, in the spirit of Christian love. Special support for Kinonia was provided by Television Hram, where Ilić is a frequent guest in the interview segment of the Morning Programme, which greatly contributes to religious education, as teachers of Religious Instruction often use the portal’s content in their classes. The improvement of religious education, Ilić emphasized, is one of the aims of Kinonia, and careful preparation has already been made for this field of activity.
- “None of this activity would look as it does and would not have borne fruit, to the rejoicing of us all, if it were not for all the people who were willing to give all their strength, their love, their free time, their knowledge, and their whole selves to the project. All are volunteers. In the past year, I have not had a single day without material to publish. Rather, I have faced a different issue—our collaborators’ constant inquiries: ‘When will my text be published?’ That is the only problem I’ve had to contend with, since we have established a certain publication rate, and are consequently learning greater humility and patience in the process. I am truly grateful that God has sent these people for collaboraton“, concluded catechist Branislav Ilić, expressing heartfelt thanks to all collaborators, with the conviction that this evening’s gathering would also contribute to the further advancement of Kinonia, a precious missionary endeavor of the Archdiocese of Belgrade–Karlovci, which has already significantly influenced the spiritual life of believers in these parts.
At the close of the gathering, archpastoral certificates of gratitude were awarded to His Eminence Metropolitan Irinej of Bačka, His Eminence Metropolitan Fotije of Zvornik-Tuzla, His Grace Bishop Nektarios of London and Great Britain and Ireland, and His Grace Bishop Dositej of Lipljan.
Media acknowledgements were given to the editorial boards of Television Hram, Radio Slovo Ljubve, Pravoslavlje (the newspaper of the Serbian Patriarchate), the Information Service of the Diocese of Zvornik-Tuzla, the Information Service of the Diocese of Bačka, Radio Beseda of the Diocese of Bačka, and Radio Istočnik of the Diocese of Valjevo.
In addition, as a sign of gratitude, acknowledgements were presented to the following distinguished permanent collaborators of the portal Kinonia: Archimandrite Gavrilo (Stevanović), abbot of the Monastery of Ozren; Archimandrite Metodije (Marković), abbot of the Monastery of Serbian Kovin; Protopresbyter-Stavrophore Sreten Lazarević, archpriest of Ruma; Protopresbyter Petar Bikar, parish priest of Pivnice; Presbyter Igor Ilić, cleric of the Diocese of Valjevo; Protodeacon Radomir Rakić; Deacon Budimir Kokotović, staff member of the Library of the Serbian Patriarchate; Deacon Aleksandar Panić, staff member of the Diocese of Valjevo; Dr. Milan Gromović; Dr. Đorđe Vuković; Dr. Jelena Marićević Balać; Dr. Marija Jeftimijević Mihajlović; Dr. Jelena Veselinov; Dr. Branka Bešević Gajić; Mrs. Sanja Anđelković-Lubardić; Mrs. Sunčica Marković; Mrs. Aleksandra Marilović; Mrs. Aleksandra Mijailović; Mrs. Jelena Delibašić; Mrs. Petka Luković; Mr. Marko Bakić; Miss Tijana Stamenović; Miss Milica Jeftić; Miss Sara Dimitrijević; Miss Jovana Babović; as well as Mr. Nikolaj Sandić.
Jadranka Janković, collaborator of the portal Kinonia
Photo: Sara Dimitrijević